A comprehensive reference for getting the most from your retirement projection tool.
Magnus Retirement Planner is a retirement fund calculator. You tell it how much money you have saved, where it is invested, and how much you plan to withdraw every month after retirement. It then shows you — year by year — how long your money will last.
Think of your retirement savings as a nest egg. Magnus helps you see how many years that egg will sustain you, and gives you a clear, layered picture of whether your plan is comfortable, tight, or needs adjustment.
What Magnus can do:
Magnus is a private app. To use it, you need an email address and a password provided by the administrator.
Steps:
Tip: Every time you close the app or browser, you will need to sign in again when you return. This keeps your information safe if someone else picks up your device. Your saved inputs remain, so you only need to re-enter your password — not all your figures.
First use: On your first login, a brief welcome note will appear at the bottom of the screen. Dismiss it to continue. You can access this guide at any time by clicking the ? Guide button in the top-right corner of the screen, next to Password and Sign Out.
Forgot your password? Use the "Forgot password?" link on the login screen. A reset email will be sent to your registered address.
This is where you tell Magnus how much money you have and where it is invested. You can enter up to 5 different funds — for example, a Fixed Deposit, a Mutual Fund, and a Provident Fund, each earning a different rate of return.
For each fund, enter:
Click + Add Fund to add another fund (up to 5). Click − Remove to remove the last one.
At the top of the left panel, a summary strip updates live: it shows your total corpus, the blended average return rate, and your starting age — so you always know what Magnus is working with.
Example:
| Fund | Investment | Amount (₹) | Return % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fund 1 | Fixed Deposit | 60,00,000 | 7% |
| Fund 2 | Mutual Fund | 40,00,000 | 11% |
| Fund 3 | Senior Citizens Savings Scheme | 15,00,000 | 8.2% |
This section tells Magnus how much you plan to spend each month from your retirement corpus, and how that spending will increase over time.
Steps:
Important: Other income is treated as a flat, constant amount throughout retirement. It does not grow with inflation — because most fixed income sources (pension, annuity, FD interest) do not automatically increase each year.
Suggested inflation schedule:
| Period | Years | Inflation % | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Period 1 | Yrs 1–5 | 5% | Active retirement, travel, medical |
| Period 2 | Yrs 6–10 | 5% | Costs still rising |
| Period 3 | Yrs 11–15 | 4% | Lifestyle settling down |
| Period 4 | Yrs 16+ | 3% | Conservative later years |
Large expenses at a specific age — a wedding, a property purchase, a major medical procedure — are not part of your regular monthly withdrawal but reduce your corpus significantly in that year.
Magnus lets you enter up to two one-time expense events. Each needs an age and an amount (₹).
To enter: 1. Click the ⚡ Stress Test Settings panel in the left sidebar. 2. Enter the age at which each expense will occur and the total amount. 3. Leave the fields blank if you have no such expense.
One-time events are deducted in every scenario — base case and all stress scenarios equally.
Example: A ₹15 lakh wedding expense at age 68: enter Age = 68, Amount = 1500000. Magnus deducts ₹15L from the corpus in the year you turn 68 and carries forward the reduced balance.
If you are still some years away from retirement, the Pre-Retirement panel lets you project how your savings will grow between now and your retirement date — and automatically fills those results into the retirement planner.
To use it:
The Pre-Retirement panel shows: years to retirement, total invested base, projected corpus at retirement, and total growth in value.
The Advanced Planning Mode panel appears near the bottom of the left input sidebar. It is off by default — basic mode uses the standard proportional withdrawal engine. Advanced mode gives you two optional upgrades:
Conservative Bucket Withdrawal
Instead of drawing each year's withdrawal proportionally across all your funds, Magnus draws from your safest assets first:
Cash → FD → Debt → Hybrid → Gold → Equity
This lets your growth assets (equity, hybrid) continue compounding untouched for longer. If sequence risk is high, bucket withdrawal can meaningfully extend corpus life. Trade-off: you may deplete stable assets quickly in early years, leaving the portfolio more volatile later.
Annual Portfolio Rebalancing
When enabled, Magnus restores your fund balances to their original allocation percentages at the end of each year — after returns are applied and withdrawals are deducted.
This prevents your portfolio from drifting into an unintended risk profile over time. Trade-off: rebalancing trims your best-performing assets each year, which can reduce long-term returns versus a pure buy-and-hold approach.
You can enable both bucket withdrawal and annual rebalancing together. When both are on, withdrawals happen first (via bucket order), then rebalancing restores the target weights on whatever remains.
Note: Switching between modes will change your projection results. Always check which mode is active when comparing scenarios.
The standard projection and stress tests use fixed return rates — every year your equity fund earns exactly what you entered. Monte Carlo mode addresses this by running your plan hundreds of times, each time with a different sequence of randomised annual returns. The result is a probability distribution of outcomes — the fraction of possible futures in which your plan survives.
How to enable it:
Open the Advanced Planning Mode panel and select Monte Carlo as the Simulation Mode. Three settings appear:
Reading the Monte Carlo results:
Monte Carlo Safe Withdrawal Finder
After the simulation completes, a Find Safe Withdrawal button appears. It runs a binary search — up to 18 iterations, each testing 500 mini-simulations — to find the highest monthly withdrawal at which your success probability meets your chosen threshold.
Note: Monte Carlo results describe a distribution of possible futures, not forecasts. A 90% success probability means 10% of plausible futures still fail. Use it as a complement to the deterministic projection, not a replacement.
Your base projection assumes everything goes to plan. The Stress Test Comparison section automatically runs your projection under five different adverse scenarios and shows all results side by side. No extra steps are needed — just click Calculate Projection and scroll down.
| Scenario | What it changes | What it tests |
|---|---|---|
| Base Case | Nothing | Expected outcome |
| Low Return | Fund returns reduced by asset class | Prolonged underperformance |
| Early Market Crash | Per-fund crash in Years 1–2 | Sequence-of-returns risk |
| High Expense Growth | Withdrawal growth +2% per inflation tier | Faster inflation / lifestyle creep |
| Medical Stress | Extra cost from a chosen age onward | Healthcare expense spikes |
Scenario details:
The Stress Test Comparison table shows: years the corpus lasts, age at depletion, depletion year, and balance remaining at your target age. The chart shows all five scenarios on one graph. Each scenario can be expanded for a full year-by-year detail table.
Once you click Calculate Projection, the results appear on the right side of the screen (or below the inputs on mobile). The results area has several distinct layers.
Executive Summary Panel
Immediately after calculation, a plain-language summary of your plan's health status appears at the top of the results, with 2–4 specific recommended actions tailored to your figures. Read this first — it distils the most important signals from all the output into a single, actionable read.
Retirement Health Indicator
A colour-coded overall verdict on your plan:
Summary Cards
Six cards at a glance:
Insight Cards
Safe Withdrawal Estimate
Automatically finds the highest monthly withdrawal that keeps your corpus alive until your target age under your worst stress scenario. Three possible outcomes:
The Hero Card — "Your Fund Lasts X Years"
The big number: how many years your money will last under your base case inputs. This reflects the base case only — use the stress results for the fuller picture.
The Balance Chart
Green bars show your remaining fund balance each year. The gold line tracks your growing annual withdrawal. The dashed green line shows investment returns each year. A dashed gold vertical line marks your target age.
The Year-by-Year Table
A detailed row for every year of retirement: age, monthly withdrawal, annual withdrawal, investment returns, and closing balance. Rows marked DEPLETED indicate the fund ran out that year.
Withdrawal Rate — Are You Drawing Too Much?
Your withdrawal rate is: Annual Withdrawal ÷ Starting Corpus × 100. The internationally cited 4% rule suggests that withdrawing 4% per year from a balanced portfolio gives a high probability of lasting 30 years. Magnus applies these thresholds: below 3% = very conservative; 3–4% = sustainable; 4–5% = moderate risk; above 5% = high risk. Note that these thresholds assume reasonable returns — if your portfolio is mostly FDs, even 3.5% may be stretched.
Sequence Risk — The Danger of a Bad Start
Sequence of returns risk is one of the most important — and least understood — risks in retirement. A market crash in the first years of retirement forces you to sell units at low prices to fund your withdrawal. You never fully recover those units, even if markets rebound strongly later. Magnus measures this by comparing your base case survival age against your Early Market Crash survival age. A gap of 0–2 years = Low; 3–5 years = Moderate; 6+ years = High.
Portfolio Risk Mix
Magnus groups your funds: Growth (equity + hybrid), Stability (debt + FD + cash), Diversifier (gold). Your growth percentage determines your profile: below 30% = Very Conservative; 30–55% = Balanced; 56–75% = Growth-Oriented; above 75% = Aggressive. An aggressive portfolio may produce higher returns but also higher sequence risk. A very conservative portfolio protects against crashes but may not grow enough to sustain a long retirement.
Safe Withdrawal Estimate — Detailed
This is Magnus's most decision-critical output. It runs a binary search — approximately 22 iterations — to find the highest monthly withdrawal that allows your corpus to survive until your target age under your worst stress scenario. Think of it as a conservative anchor: if your actual expenses are close to or above the safe number, that is a signal to reduce withdrawals, extend your earning years, or add more to your corpus.
Click the Print / Save PDF button at the top of the results to generate a full projection report. The report includes your input summary, all projection results, stress test comparison, and Monte Carlo results if run.
Practical notes:
Use the PDF to share your projection with a financial advisor or to keep an offline record of your planning.
You can change your password at any time. Click the Password button in the top-right bar, enter your current password to confirm your identity, then enter and confirm your new password. Your new password takes effect immediately.
Tip: Choose a password that is memorable to you but not obvious to others. Avoid birth years, 1234, or sequential numbers.
Forgot your password? Use the "Forgot password?" link on the login screen. A reset email will be sent to your registered address.
Your financial figures are deeply personal. Magnus is built from the ground up to ensure your data never leaves your device.
What IS stored on the server: Only your name, email address, and encrypted password — purely for login purposes. Nothing financial is ever stored on any server.
What stays on YOUR device only: All corpus amounts, fund details, return rates, withdrawal plans, inflation settings, and calculated results. These exist only in your browser's local storage on your device. Not even the administrator can see your financial data.
Clearing your data: If you clear your browser's cookies or site data, or use a different device, your saved inputs will be gone. You will need to re-enter them. This is by design — for your privacy.
This section is for users who want to understand what the numbers mean and where the model's limits lie.
Deterministic Engine
The standard projection applies your entered return rates exactly, every year. Each year the engine:
The projection continues year by year until either the corpus is exhausted or age 100 is reached (the model's hard ceiling for results display).
Monte Carlo Return Model
In Monte Carlo mode, each fund's annual return is drawn from a log-normal distribution parameterised by the fund's entered rate as the mean and a fixed annual volatility (σ) by asset class:
Equity σ = 18% per year
Hybrid σ = 12% per year
Debt σ = 4% per year
Gold σ = 15% per year
Other σ = 10% per year
FD σ = 0% (contractual rate — no volatility)
Cash σ = 0% (stable rate — no volatility)
Returns are sampled using the Box-Muller transform. Each fund is sampled independently each year — returns are not correlated across asset classes.
FD and Cash are intentionally zero-volatility. FDs in India are contractual instruments — the rate is fixed for the tenure. Modelling FD with return noise would be economically incorrect.
Known Limitations
How to use the two modes together: If the deterministic plan looks healthy and the MC success probability is above 85–90%, your plan has genuine depth. If the MC results are much weaker than the deterministic ones, your plan is sensitive to return sequences and deserves attention.
Can I use Magnus on my phone? Yes — Magnus works on any phone browser. For the best experience, add it to your home screen: on iPhone, tap the Share button in Safari and choose "Add to Home Screen". On Android, tap the menu in Chrome and choose "Add to Home Screen". It will open like a regular app.
Why do I need to enter my password every time? For your security. Magnus does not keep you logged in after you close the app or browser. This protects your access if someone else picks up your device. Your saved inputs remain, so you only need to re-enter the password.
My numbers were there yesterday. Today they're gone. Why? This happens if you cleared your browser history or cache, used a different browser or device, or used your browser's private/incognito mode (which does not save data). Always use the same browser on the same device to preserve your saved inputs.
What return rate should I use for my investments? Use the actual or expected annual return of each investment. Fixed Deposits: typically 6.5–8%. Senior Citizens Savings Scheme: currently ~8.2%. Debt Mutual Funds: 6–9%. Equity Mutual Funds (long-term historical): 10–13%. When in doubt, use a conservative number — it is better to be pleasantly surprised than to run short.
What inflation rate should I use? India's average retail inflation has been around 5–6% per year over the past decade. A reasonable planning assumption is 5% for earlier years and 3–4% for later years when lifestyle tends to stabilise. Medical costs tend to inflate faster — factor that in if healthcare will be significant.
What is Monte Carlo simulation and should I use it? Monte Carlo runs your retirement plan hundreds of times with randomised annual returns, rather than using fixed rates every year. The result is a success probability — the percentage of futures in which your corpus survives to your target age. Use it when you want to understand not just "does my plan work?" but "how robust is my plan to the randomness of real market returns?"
My Monte Carlo success probability is much lower than my deterministic result. Why? The deterministic projection uses your entered return rates every single year — a best-estimate scenario. Monte Carlo introduces year-to-year volatility, including bad years and bad sequences. A plan that looks comfortable deterministically can show a much lower MC success rate if it has high equity exposure, a high withdrawal rate, or tight margins. A large gap between the two results means your plan depends heavily on hitting your return targets every year.
How many simulations should I run? 1,000 is the recommended default. It gives stable, repeatable results. 500 is faster and adequate for a quick sense-check. 2,000 gives tighter results but takes slightly longer. The difference between 1,000 and 2,000 runs is rarely more than 1–2 percentage points in the success probability.
Why does my FD return the same amount in every Monte Carlo path? By design. FDs in India are contractual — the rate is locked for the tenure. Magnus models FD and Cash as zero-volatility instruments: they always return exactly the rate you entered, even in Monte Carlo mode.
What is Other Monthly Income and should I enter it? Other Monthly Income is any regular, predictable income during retirement — pension, rental income, annuity payout, or fixed consulting retainer. Enter it if you have it. Magnus subtracts it from your Monthly Living Expense before drawing from your portfolio, which directly reduces how much your corpus needs to provide each month. Note that it stays flat throughout retirement — it does not grow with inflation.
Should I use Bucket Withdrawal or Proportional? For most users, the default Proportional mode is appropriate. Bucket Withdrawal is worth considering if you have significant equity exposure and are concerned about sequence risk. By drawing from Cash and FD first, bucket mode lets equity compound untouched in early years. Use the Sequence Risk card to assess whether bucket mode makes a meaningful difference for your plan.
What does Annual Rebalancing do, and should I use it? Annual rebalancing resets your fund balances to their original proportions at the end of each year. This prevents your portfolio from drifting into an unintended risk profile. It tends to reduce long-term returns slightly but improves consistency. If you rebalance your actual portfolio regularly in real life, enabling it in Magnus will give a more accurate projection.
What is sequence risk and why does it matter? Sequence risk is the danger that poor returns early in retirement permanently damage your corpus — even if returns recover later. When you are withdrawing each year, a crash in Year 1 forces you to sell at low prices. You never recover those units. The Sequence Risk card in Magnus quantifies this by comparing your Base Case and Early Market Crash survival ages.
Is Magnus a financial advisor? No. Magnus is a calculation tool that models projections based on the numbers you provide. It does not give financial advice. Results are only as accurate as your inputs and assumptions. Always consult a qualified financial advisor for decisions about your retirement.
I need access. How do I get an account? Access is granted by the administrator only. Email magnus.retirement@gmail.com to request access.
Magnus Retirement Planner — magnus-retirement.netlify.app This guide is for personal planning purposes only. It is not financial advice.